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Resolution 2325 (2020)
The progress of the Assembly's monitoring procedure (January-December 2019)
1. The Parliamentary Assembly acknowledges
the work carried out by the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations
and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring
Committee) in fulfilling its mandate as defined in Resolution 1115 (1997) on
the setting up of an Assembly committee on the honouring of obligations
and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe (Monitoring
Committee) (as modified by Resolutions
1431 (2005), 1515
(2006), 1698
(2009), 1710
(2010), 1936
(2013), 2018
(2014) and 2261
(2019)). It commends the committee on its work in accompanying
the 10 countries under a full monitoring procedure (Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova,
the Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine), and the three
countries engaged in a post-monitoring dialogue (Bulgaria, Montenegro
and North Macedonia), in their efforts to fully comply with the
obligations and commitments they entered into upon accession to
the Council of Europe, as well as the monitoring of the membership
obligations of all other member States through its periodic review
process.
2. The Assembly welcomes the positive developments and the progress
made during the reporting period in a number of countries under
a monitoring procedure or engaged in a post-monitoring dialogue.
In particular in:
2.1. Albania:
the continuing commitment to the reform of the judiciary and justice
system, especially through the vetting of all judges and prosecutors;
2.2. Armenia: the organisation of parliamentary elections in
line with international standards; its commitment to combat corruption
and to reform the judiciary with a view to strengthening its independence;
2.3. Azerbaijan: the presidential pardon and subsequent release
of over 400 prisoners, including 50 persons considered to be political
prisoners; the introduction of legal reforms that allow for a reduction in
terms of punishment; the introduction of alternatives to detention
and the full decriminalisation of about 15 offences, which will
help to address the long-standing concerns about over-population
of penitentiary institutions;
2.4. Bulgaria: the significant reforms of the judiciary and
the ongoing efforts to combat corruption, including by establishment
of a new unified anti-corruption agency;
2.5. Georgia: the adoption of a new set of rules of procedure
for the Georgian Parliament with a view to reinforce parliamentary
oversight and political accountability of the executive; the broad
agreement with all stakeholders about the adopted fourth wave of
judicial reforms with the aim of further strengthening the independence
of the judiciary and efficiency of the administration of justice;
2.6. the Republic of Moldova: the peaceful transfer of power
and efforts undertaken to de-oligarchise the country and strengthen
its State institutions; the willingness of the Moldovan authorities
to continue the 5+2 discussions to achieve a peaceful resolution
of the Transnistrian conflict;
2.7. Montenegro: the progress made with regard to ensuring
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons (LGBTI)
and minority rights; the inclusive manner in which the new legal
framework for media was adopted and the increase in efforts made
to investigate attacks on journalists and bring perpetrators to
justice;
2.8. North Macedonia: the resolving of the political crisis
in the country through peaceful negotiations and the ratification
of the historic Prespa Agreement by North Macedonia and Greece,
which resolved the so-called “name issue” after twenty-seven years;
2.9. the Russian Federation: its stated commitment to now fully
engage in the ongoing monitoring procedure by the Assembly;
2.10. Turkey: the adoption of a first package of legal reforms
and the expected action plan for human rights that could address
long-standing concerns of the Assembly;
2.11. Ukraine: the establishment of the High Anti-Corruption
Court and the clear priority given to fighting the widespread corruption
in the country and new initiatives undertaken in this direction.
3. At the same time, the Assembly expresses its concern about
developments and remaining shortcomings in a number of countries
under a monitoring procedure or engaged in a post-monitoring dialogue
that undermine the democratic consolidation in these countries and
are at odds with their obligations and accession commitments:
3.1. Albania: the ongoing polarisation
of the political environment evolving into a systemic political crisis
that impedes the proper functioning of democratic institutions in
the country, including parliament and local self-government institutions;
the still widespread and entrenched corruption and limited results in
the fight against organised crime;
3.2. Armenia: the challenges faced by the judiciary from all
sides in ensuring its independence and impartiality; the continuing
prevalence in the Armenian society of intolerance and negative stereotypes regarding
LGBTI persons and other minorities; the obstacles placed by some
groups in society in the way of the still outstanding ratification
of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence
Against Women and Domestic Violence (CETS No. 210, “Istanbul Convention”);
3.3. Azerbaijan: the continuing existence of political prisoners
and the ongoing use of politically motivated administrative detention,
criminal charges and restrictions on movement and travel bans against
government opponents, journalists and representatives of civil society
organisations; the restrictive and cumbersome legal environment
for non-governmental organisations to operate in;
3.4. Bosnia and Herzegovina: the continuing inability to form
a government and other democratic institutions in the country following
the 2018 elections, including, inter
alia, the inability to appoint a new delegation to our
Assembly; the worrying developments in the area of freedom of assembly
and freedom of the media; the continuous disregard by some authorities
at the level of the entities for binding and final decisions of
the judiciary;
3.5. Bulgaria: the systematic deterioration of media freedom
over recent years; the situation of the Roma minority and the continuing
use of racist and intolerant hate speech in political discourse;
3.6. Georgia: the failure to pass the required constitutional
amendments to introduce a fully proportional election system by
2020; the lack of investigation and follow-up given to alleged incidents and
violations of the electoral code during the 2018 presidential election;
the shortcomings in the functioning of the High Council of Justice,
including the lack of a clear and uniform selection criteria, the excessive
use of discretion and failure to give full and reasoned decisions
with regard to the selection of Supreme Court judges;
3.7. Montenegro: the ongoing polarised political climate in
the country which is hindering necessary reforms, including of the
electoral framework; the allegations of high-level corruption and
insufficient investigation into these alleged acts of corruption;
the lack of transparency in the selection and the appointments of
magistrates;
3.8. Russian Federation: exacerbating negative tendencies with
regard to democracy, the rule of law and human rights which are
hindering the fulfilment of key accession commitments and membership obligations;
the arbitrary use of the law on extremism to silence the opposition
and critical civil society organisations; the deterioration of religious
freedom in the country as witnessed by the ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses;
the continuing “borderisation” and creeping annexation of the Georgian
regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by the Russian Federation;
the illegal annexation of Crimea and military aggression in eastern
Ukraine;
3.9. Turkey: the worsening situation of opposition politicians
and parties; the continuing undue restrictions on the fundamental
rights of freedom of expression and assembly; the abuse of anti-terror laws
to silence those critical of the ruling authorities’ policies, especially
with regard to the military intervention in Syria; the continuing
deterioration of the media environment;
3.10. Ukraine: the attacks on journalists and anti-corruption
activists investigating local corruption and abuses of power.
4. Consequently, the Assembly urges all the countries that are
under a monitoring procedure or engaged in a post-monitoring dialogue
to step up their efforts to fully honour all membership obligations
and accession commitments to the Council of Europe. In particular
it calls on:
4.1. all political
forces in Albania to resolve the systemic political crisis in the
country on the basis of electoral reform followed by elections and
to abstain from boycotting parliament and State institutions; and
for the Albanian authorities to step up the fight against corruption
and organised crime and to ensure that any changes to the legislative
framework for the media are fully in line with European standards
with regard to freedom of expression and of the media;
4.2. the Armenian authorities to step up the reform of the
justice system with a view to strengthening its independence and
efficiency while refraining from any actions that could be perceived
as putting pressure on or interfering in the work of the judiciary
and to continue strengthening the rights of women as well as LGBTI
persons and other minorities;
4.3. the Azerbaijani authorities to end the harassment and
intimidation of lawyers representing opposition and civil society
activists against the State; to release without delay all remaining
political prisoners and to fully implement the judgment of the European
Court of Human Rights (the Court) in the case of Ilgar Mammadov v. Azerbaijan; to
fully comply with the European Convention on Human Rights and unconditionally
implement the judgments of the Court;
4.4. all political forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina to appoint
a new government and representatives in the country’s democratic
institutions and adopt the necessary changes to both the constitution
and the electoral law, in accordance with the judgments of the European
Court of Human Rights in the Sejdić and Finci and the Pilav cases;
4.5. the Bulgarian authorities to adopt, in close co-operation
and consultation with all stakeholders, clear, objective and transparent
criteria with regard to supplementary remuneration within the judiciary; to
adopt the necessary legislation ensuring transparency of media ownership;
to step up the fight against high-level corruption;
4.6. the Georgian ruling majority to ensure the introduction
of an election system that can have the support and trust of all
stakeholders before the 2020 elections; to fully implement all the recommendations
of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission)
in its opinion on the selection and appointment of Supreme Court
judges; to promptly implement the fourth wave of reform of the judiciary
and for all political forces in the country to work to overcome
the continuing polarisation in the political environment;
4.7. the Montenegrin authorities and all political forces in
the country to agree on and implement comprehensive electoral reform
and to refrain from boycotting the country’s parliament and democratic institutions;
the Montenegrin authorities to fully and transparently investigate
all allegations of high-level corruption in the country and to ensure
the freedom of the media and protection of journalists;
4.8. all political forces in North Macedonia to agree to a
reform of the legislative framework for elections, in particular
with regard to campaign financing and election complaints and appeals;
the authorities of North Macedonia to implement outstanding recommendations
by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and the European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (CPT); to further consolidate and ensure
the sustainability of the functioning of democratic institutions
in the country and to strengthen the independence and accountability
of judges and prosecutors;
4.9. the Russian authorities to implement a series of concrete
measures aimed at addressing the concerns with regard to the continuing
deterioration of human rights and the rule of law; to remove any legal
obstacles to the unconditional execution of the decisions of the
European Court of Human Rights; to unconditionally and fully co-operate
with the joint investigation team and the Dutch prosecution service
in bringing those responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines
Flight MH17 to justice; to take effective measures aimed at preventing
violations of the human rights of LGBTI persons, in particular in the
Chechen Republic; to co-operate fully with the international community
in the investigation of the murder of Mr Boris Nemtsov; to end and
reverse the ongoing “borderisation” and creeping annexations of
the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia; to fully implement
the Minsk agreements to which the Russian Federation is a party
and to end its military intervention in, and support for, illegally armed
formations in eastern Ukraine; to reverse its illegal annexation
of Crimea as demanded by the Assembly, including in Assembly Resolutions 1990 (2014), 2034 (2015), 2063 (2015), 2132 (2016), 2198 (2018), 2259 (2019), 2292 (2019) and
others; to fully comply with the European Convention on Human Rights
and unconditionally implement the judgments of the Court;
4.10. the Turkish authorities to respect fully the rights and
fundamental freedoms of opposition politicians, in particular to
guarantee parliamentary immunity and to release members and former members
of parliament who were wrongly imprisoned and stripped of their
immunity; to end the use of anti-terror laws to silence opposition
parties, journalists, activists and civil society organisations
that hold diverging views to those of the ruling party; to fully
comply with the European Convention on Human Rights and unconditionally
implement the judgments of the Court;
4.11. the Ukrainian authorities to ensure full and transparent
investigations into attacks on journalists and anti-corruption activists
to ensure that no perception of impunity for such crimes is allowed
to exist; and to ensure that the reform of the legal framework governing
the Supreme Court and judicial self-governing bodies is carried
out fully in line with European standards.
5. The Assembly reaffirms the importance of the parliamentary
monitoring procedure, and the work of the Monitoring Committee in
the democratisation and institution-building processes in all Council
of Europe member States. It welcomes the efforts made to ensure
the monitoring of the membership obligations of all Council of Europe
member States, which preclude any possibility for double standards
and decides to strengthen the periodic review procedure as a complementary
mechanism to the existing monitoring procedure and post-monitoring
dialogue. To that end, the Assembly decides to amend the terms of
reference of the Monitoring Committee, appended to Resolution 1115 (1997) (as
modified), as follows:
5.1. at the
end of paragraph 8 add the following text: “The Monitoring Committee
is seized to prepare regular periodic reviews of all Council of
Europe member States that are not under a full monitoring procedure
or engaged in a post-monitoring dialogue. The order and frequency
of these reports shall be decided upon by the committee in accordance
with its internal working methods based on substantive grounds,
with the objective of producing, over time, periodic review reports
on all member States”;
5.2. replace paragraph 14 by the following: “In the case of
reports on the honouring of obligations and commitments, periodic
review reports on the honouring of membership obligations, and reports
on the post-monitoring dialogue, the authorities of the country
in question will be given a six-week period to provide their comments
on the preliminary draft report to be transmitted to them by the
committee. These comments will be discussed as part of the consideration
of the draft report by the committee. No comments by the authorities
are required for the consideration of a draft report on the functioning
of democratic institutions. Draft reports shall remain confidential
until the authorities have been able to give their comments within
the aforementioned deadline and the report has been examined by
the committee. All other memoranda and working documents of the
committee shall remain confidential unless declassified by the committee.”
6. Furthermore, in order to strengthen the efficiency and internal
coherence of the work of the Monitoring Committee, the Assembly
decides to amend Resolution
1115 (1997) (as modified by Resolutions 1431 (2005), 1515 (2006), 1698 (2009), 1710 (2010), 1936 (2013), 2018 (2014) and 2261 (2019)) as
follows:
6.1. insert the following
new paragraph before paragraph 9: “In line with Rule 50.1, unless
otherwise specified, the Monitoring Committee shall appoint two
rapporteurs, from different countries and political groups, to prepare
country-specific reports on the honouring of obligations and commitments,
reports on the functioning of democratic institutions, reports on
the post-monitoring dialogue and reports on periodic reviews.”
7. The Assembly invites the committee to pursue its reflections
on ways to strengthen its work, including with regard to the manner
in which the committee is composed.